


oh, halcyon days

by Asuia_of_the_deep



Series: for the call of the running tide [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: F/M, Female Monkey D. Luffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26068873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asuia_of_the_deep/pseuds/Asuia_of_the_deep
Summary: Monkey D. Ace had been a child who never knew what it meant to fall.(Of her childhood before the winds of change.)Series of drabbles related to 'what I wouldn't do'.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro
Series: for the call of the running tide [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892449
Comments: 7
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey, lookit.”

Ikku looked up from his beer to where Shima was jutting his chin at a little girl some ways opposite the bar. She was in a summer dress despite the weather, and fat raindrops plopped down the brim of her strawhat to drip beside her straw sandals, seeping in between her muddy toes. She looked lost.

Ikku grinned, while his companion nodded discreetly into his own drink. “Pirate urchin,” Shima muttered, confirming. “No one’s wit’ ‘er.”

Ikku almost wrinkled his nose in disgust. Another orphan, left behind by pirate parents. Ikku had never had any patience with pirates, what with their grand talks of conquering the sea and non-existent treasures. Then when they up and die or when they got tired of them, they leave their kids behind in this poor port town, already crammed as it was.

Doesn’t matter though. Ikku downed the rest of his beer and tossed a few coins on the counter. What they left behind could fetch a fair price. The kid looked healthy enough, and no one would bat an eye at, or even notice, another missing pirate urchin. When he walked out the door, Shima was right beside him.

The crowd here was still too thick to act, so the both of them followed the little girl as she made her way down the street. She was looking around her helplessly, like she was looking for someone, most probably her parents. Poor lamb had no idea no one would be coming for her anymore. Ikku had seen enough of them to know what she would do once they grabbed her. She would swear up and down that her guardians would be here soon, or maybe even try to fight, because pirate children were fucking feral little monsters, but in the end, where she ended up wouldn’t be her choice to make. Ikku had his quota to fill for the month, or his boss would have his head.

Shima lit a cigarette beside him and the smoke curled up to the grey clouds above. Ikku leaned against the wall, under the miserable protection of the leaky awning overhead, careful to keep the kid within his peripheries. From here, he observed idly that the kid was clutching a book wrapped in oiled paper, and beside her hip was a wooden practice sword, scarred and nicked and worn.

She was nearing the end of the street now, where the crowd was finally starting to thin. When the last of the villagers had turned their back, Ikku and Shima quickened their footsteps. This was old hat to them, just a quick hand to grab her and smother her screams then –

The girl stopped abruptly. “Can I help you?” she asked. The two of them stuttered for a moment, startled she had noticed them at all.

When neither of them answered, the girl turned around. She inclined her head in a polite way and her green eyes swept over them, too quick and observant. Something rang in Ikku’s mind then, like an old itch, something about a girl with a strawhat and green eyes. This close, Ikku could see a healed white scar around her neck.

“Are you lost?” the girl supplied helpfully when the silence stretched on, derailing Ikku’s train of thought. “Do you need directions?”

Ikku looked at Shima, who shrugged a shoulder imperceivably. Ikku gave a small nod in return. He was right; this didn’t change their plan.

“Are _you_ lost?” Shima drawled at her. “Why’re you out ‘ere all alone, eh?”

The girl hummed. She hugged her book closer to her, and her slight movement caused rain droplets to drip down her whole form, a gentle cascade. “I’m going back to crew,” she answered. Her words were demure, but her tone, to the way she stood and the way she eyed them, was cautious.

Shima stooped down to look her in the eyes. “Why don’t you follow us, eh? We know right where they are,” he said.

Ikku noticed the way the girl drew back minutely at the sudden closeness. Her green eyes flashed, just a flicker of a second, and Ikku wondered if he had imagined the disdain he saw in them.

 _She knows what we want,_ Ikku thought, half-amused. He was almost tempted to just let this play out, to see what the girl would do.

“No, thanks,” the girl answered. Her eyes curved with her smile, sharp and thin as a knife.

Shima smiled back at her. “Come now,” he said, reaching out with a hand. “Don’t be shy –”

Shima drew away, yelping. He was clutching his bruised wrist. Ikku snapped his eyes back at the girl, who had her practice sword out. He hadn’t even seen her unsheathe it –

“I said ‘No, thanks,’” the girl repeated evenly.

Shima snarled, patience worn out. He leaped at the girl before Ikku could stop him, and Ikku had to watch disbelievingly, at his partner dropped by a precise strike to his nose. Then, before he even hit the ground, another blow to the back of his neck sent him flying towards the closest wall.

The girl turned her flashing eyes at Ikku now, and without even noticing it, he backed up a step, gulping.

That was when he felt it, from behind him, a seeping coldness in his soul, like dread, as primal as fear. Despite his instincts _screaming_ at him to flee, Ikku, trembling, looked behind him.

A demon stood there, in the misting rain, face dark. His hair was an unnatural shade of green, and at his hip were three swords. His one eye was alit with an unholy light.

Ikku, very nearly, soiled himself.

Roronoa Zoro, the Greatest Swordsman in the World, leaking bloodlust and steel and murder, reached out with a hand to grab the front of his shirt.

“I’ll give you three seconds,” the demon told him softly. “To get out of my sight and keep your worthless life.”

Ikku whimpered. The moment he was let go, Ikku ran as fast as he could. And from then on, he never returned to the island.

He never did see Shima ever again.

Zoro sighed once that scum ran far enough that he couldn’t sense him. He immediately went to Ace, to check her over.

“Are you hurt?” he asked anxiously. “Did they do anything to you. I swear if they so much scratched you –“

“Papa,” Ace protested, but she was smiling. She was also not pulling away from his hold. “I’m alright.”

Zoro sighed again in relief. He kissed the top of her head. “Did you get that book you wanted?” he asked now, even though his heart still hadn’t stopped pounding.

Ace nodded earnestly. She shoved the book in his face. “’The Formation of the Alabastan Dynasties’,” she said, eyes shining, and Zoro couldn’t help softening at that look on his daughter’s excited face. “Robin said she’ll help me with it.”

Zoro’s lips were tugged unconsciously into a smile, and even though she was going on ten, even though Ace was growing up too fast, it still felt right to hold her hand as they turned to walk back to _Sunny_ , that Ace unthinkingly slipped her hand into his hold. _Just a little longer,_ Zoro told himself, heart twinging in a strange way. He would just indulge for a little longer.

They passed by the first goon Ace had knocked out, and Zoro had to wrestle down his rage again. Ace knew, too, because she held onto his hand tighter, smiled more brightly at him. When he was certain he had his temper under control, Zoro told her, “Not bad, by the way.” He had gotten there just in time to see her land her last attack.

Ace beamed proudly at him. “I’ve had a good teacher,” she said, blinking her eyes innocently at him, and Zoro had to choke back his laughter. Ace really was his daughter, to know his buttons so well.

 _Just a little longer_. Zoro covered Ace with his outer cloak and swept her up onto his shoulders, causing her laughter to ring out in surprise. It was the brightest sound Zoro had ever heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This'll be where I'll be posting unexplored ideas and things I didn't include in the first part of the story. It won't be very plot heavy, but I hope you'll still enjoy it. :)
> 
> Prompts are welcome but I will be updating rather sporadically when I have the time.


	2. the meek shall inherit the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Law and Ace, throughout the years.

The first time Law saw Monkey D. Ace, she was still wrinkly around the edges and her neck couldn’t even hold the weight of her own head.

After a long while staring, he finally commented, in the most deadpan expression he could muster, “You reproduced.”

Nothing to give away the horror he felt inside at the thought of _two_ Strawhats running amok on the seas in the future.

Strawhat-ya was almost sparkling with joy. It was honestly disgusting. “Isn’t she cool?” she gushed, cuddling the baby in her hold as it drooled onto her arm. What a remarkable fucking specimen. Law felt a migraine incoming. He doubted any of these idiots thought this through at all.

“What do you want, Torao?” Roronoa-ya drawled beside his captain. His arms were crossed. He looked every bit as grouchy as he usually did, but Law was observant. He noted the tense coiling of Roronoa-ya’s muscle, how he always had his back close towards his daughter and Strawhat-ya. Roronoa-ya was more wound up than he let on.

Daughter. God. These idiots had really gone and done it. The little abomination was one-half Strawhat-ya and one-half Roronoa fucking Zoro. The pounding between Law’s temples grew stronger.

He sighed. Instead of answering Roronoa-ya’s question, he asked, “You know how many people are going to come after her now?” They hadn’t even thought of informing him – their ally – and he’d only been privy to the baby’s existence after he read the news. He’d almost choked on his morning coffee that day.

No, he wasn’t _whining._ And he certainly did not turn the Polar Tang around all the way from the other side of the New World to check on them because he was _worried_. Things like this had _consequences_ , and since there was no undoing it, Law goddamn well reserved his right to complain about it, if only to relieve some stress.

Strawhat-ya bounced her spawn up and down as she snickered, “Naww, Torao’s worried.” She and Roronoa-ya, in remarkable synchrony, and in the most condescending way possible, turned identical smug faces at him. Law almost snarled.

Not. Worried.

Deep breaths, Law reminded himself. “The Marines are going to tighten their patrol even more after this,” he warned. He even managed to sound almost casual. In his mind, he pushed away the image of Strawhat-ya bleeding out from two of her vital organs the last time the Marines had decided to go after an Ace.

Roronoa-ya stiffened. Law didn’t miss the way he unconsciously crowded closer to Strawhat-ya and the baby, already so protective. Strawhat-ya, on the other hand, didn’t appeared that much bothered.

“We can take ‘em,” she said breezily. She turned her sunny smile to her first mate. “Right, Zoro?”

Roronoa-ya let out a deep breath, relaxing immediately at Strawhat-ya’s words. “Yea,” he smiled.

It was stupid, but Law relaxed too. “Well, please try to keep me in the loop next time,” he said, and he couldn’t help adding sulkily, “Whenever the Marines are interested in you, they get me involved too.”

Strawhat-ya’s laughted rang out. “It’s because we’re friends!” she declared, like being collateral whenever her crew got into deep shit was something fun Law should take in stride.

Law rolled his eyes. Weirdly, it didn’t bother him as much as it should have.

The Strawhats got into deep shit, and they dragged him into it.

Of course.

It was, however, miraculously six years later than Law expected. Cat Burglar-ya was on the other side of the line, her voice unsettlingly calm as she detailed to them the events leading to the capture of their captain’s little girl. The den den mushi looked furious, but its eyes were suspiciously bright. 

His crew, too, were incensed. They were fond of Strawhat-ya’s little girl, especially Bepo, who looked like he was about to cry. Shachi’s hand holding the receiver was clenched tight.

“So it looks like we’re heading on to Impel Down for now,” Car Burglar-ya continued. “Sabo and the Strawhat fleet are coming too, but –”

“Where’s Strawhat-ya?” Law interrupted.

Hesitance from the side. Some murmured discussion. “She’s still going over the plan,” Cat Burglar-ya told him when she was back on.

Law bit back a bitter laugh. Strawhat-ya. Plan. “Put her on the line, Cat Burglar-ya.”

“I told you, she’s not –”

“What is it, Torao?” Strawhat-ya’s voice filtered in. The receiver switched hands then, and the den den mushi changed its appearance to match the speaker. It looked tired and angry and sad. The shadow under its eyes and the rage they contained reminded Law of a white town once famed for being unblemished, how he wanted to burn down the whole world too when it was devoured by flames.

Strawhat-ya had dragged him, kicking and screaming, out of that pit, years ago. He owed her, despite what he liked to pretend, which was why he said, “You’ll get her back, Strawhat-ya.”

She would, and she wouldn’t be alone.

Strawhat-ya laughed in surprise and some of her tenseness seemed to leak out, at least. “Thanks, Torao.”

A week later, as thousands of pirates and Marines clashed in the island of Loguetown, the Hearts Pirates circled the area and sank any reinforcement ships that got even an inch closer to their parameter.

The next time they met was on Goa. Law would never admit it, but the Grand Line was not the same without the specific brand of chaos only the Strawhats could bring. He should be enjoying the peace in the dawn of the new age, but the newly crowned Pirate King seemed to have chosen to retire back to her home island. Nobody had seen them on the seas for almost a year.

He was Not Worried.

Trekking though the jungle with his crew, Torao could imagine what kind of upbringing Strawhat-ya had. The vegetation here was wild and overrun, and – was that a giant tiger with a bump on its head?

They finally reached the shanty that the barkeep, a suspicious lady named Makino, had pointed them towards. As they approached it, the door creaked opened.

Strawhat-ya’s spawn peeked out from behind it before he could knock. “Oh, it’s just Torao,” she said blandly to the people inside. Then, she spotted their navigator. “Bepo-bear!” she gasped and tackled him in a hug.

Bepo brightened up at once, “Hi, Ace!”

“You’re still fluffy,” the girl told him seriously.

“And you’ve grown taller!”

Had she? Law squinted. But then, children all looked the same to him.

Whatever. He turned back to the shanty, where bandits were whispering and pointing at him, a giant orange woman was glowering, and where the person he was here to see was sitting in a corner, yawning.

“It’s been a long time, Roronoa-ya,” he said.

Roronoa-ya rubbed at his face and stretched, like he’d just woken up from a nap. He looked at Law from the corner of his eye. “Oh, it’s you,” he groused. “What do you want? Luffy and the others went hunting, or somethin’.”

Law leaned against the doorframe and tried to ignore the pairs of inquisitive eyes from the room. Behind him, Bepo and his crew were rough-housing with Strawhat-ya’s kid. It was ridiculous how attached they were; they didn’t even see her as frequently as twice a year.

“I’m actually here to see you,” Law finally told Roronoa-ya.

That got his attention. Roronoa-ya’s eye narrowed in suspicion as he walked towards him. He closed the door behind them, for some semblance of privacy. He didn’t even say anything, just raised an eyebrow in that aggravating, stoic way of his. Law almost bristled, but two could play at that game.

“You look well,” Law said. He knew Roronoa-ya wasn’t a complete idiot. There was a working braincell somewhere in that moss-head of his, at least enough that he should catch the undertone to Law’s comment.

Roronoa-ya’s eye glinted. He still said nothing. Law had to stop his frustrated sigh from escaping; it was like probing a pile of rocks.

“Rumour has it,” he began carefully. “That you came back from the dead.”

Roronoa-ya held his gaze. For a long while, the only sounds between them was the rustling wind and peels of laughter from his crew and the girl. Law refused to look away.

In the end, Roronoa-ya said flatly, “Rumours are dumb.” He stretched again and whistled. His kid perked up immediately at his call, obedient and well-trained, and she abandoned her playmates to their dismay to run over to them. Law had to bite back a snarky comment about how the spawn of two as bullheaded as Roronoa Zoro and Strawhat Luffy could have sense. And manners. Law didn’t think he interested her very much, but she still smiled at him in greeting when she reached them.

That was the end of that, Law supposed. It didn’t feel right to pursue his line of questioning with a child present. He watched the kid tug at Roronoa-ya’s hand, and how Roronoa-ya’s smile gentled in return. Who knew the Demon of the East Blue had it in him.

Before he followed them into the forest to meet up with the rest of the Strawhats, when the child was distracted by a strange flower, Roronoa-ya, eye never leaving his kid, said to him quietly, “There are things I would die a thousand times for, Torao.”

Law chewed on his words. He had always known Roronoa-ya to be the all-or-nothing, do-or-die type, like his captain. That had been what was different between them in the beginning. While they were ready to die for their dream, Law had planned his own death to be instrumental to realising his, to Doflamingo’s downfall. That was what surprised Law, he guessed, to hear a sentiment so similar to the old Law’s coming from the mouth of Roronoa Zoro, to hear it declared so fiercely and matter-of -factly.

People change. Things change. Even the winds whispered of it. Though the storm of Loguetown had passed, there were more in-coming. They were pirates; it was their lifeblood to ride out any storms brewing in the horizon and laugh in the wind just to spite it.

“Your crew going back to the New World soon?” Law asked.

Roronoa-ya grunted, “’Tis about time.” He did seem well-healed now, from…dying, or whatever wound he was nursing.

Law nodded. His eyes flicked towards the girl who was jumping after a treefrog now, towards the white halo of healed tissue around her neck. “Her scars wouldn’t wash off,” he told Roronoa-ya, reminded him of the stakes.

Roronoa-ya’s eye flashed poison green. “We’re ready,” he said. “And she will be, too.”

Law snorted. “If anything,” he began with a grin, “Being raised by you lunatics will make most of the New World look tame.”

Roronoa-ya huffed in amusement. He didn’t disagree.

Ten years later, the Pirate King conscripted her allies in a war.

The enemy was Blackbeard, and it had been a long time coming. The upcoming battle would decide the fate of the seas.

The day before the final clash, Law stood on the decks of Thousand Sunny. In the distance was the ominous island of Hachinosu. Above them, clouds rolled on and a fine rain speckled everything in sight. There would be no strategic strike, no guerrilla tactics. Blackbeard had enraged Strawhat-ya so much that both sides had conceded to a head-on confrontation. Bobbing in the waves behind them stretched the ships belonging to the Strawhat fleet as far as the eye could see. The Polar Tang was submerged at the moment, patrolling the area with mermen.

Law was only here because he needed to go over last minute details with the Strawhats. He didn’t even know why they bothered; all of them knew their captain would throw all manner of planning out the window the moment the fight began. He went along anyway, for appearance’s sake.

There was only another person on the deck at the moment, sharpening her blade. Monkey D. Ace was preparing for her first march into war.

Law walked to her and leaned against the rail. He eyed her carefully. “You ready for tomorrow?” he asked. He wasn’t surprised that Strawhat-ya would let her daughter into battle, Roronoa-ya on the other hand…

The kid – Law should probably stop calling her that – looked up and smiled. Her eyes, so much like her father’s, were sharp with resolve. “Uhn,” she said, then went back to working on her sword. It was of good quality, Law could tell, but it was still unnamed and untested. Young.

“You could stay on the Polar Tang if you want,” Law said, before his brain could catch on to his tongue. He didn’t know why he just blurted that out. Maybe he didn’t want to deal with the aftermath her parents would bring if she got hurt.

The kid looked at him again. She didn’t say anything. For a brief moment Law wondered if Roronoa-ya being a stoic asshole was an inheritable trait.

“I’m fighting, with Crew,” she told him with finality, an indisputable fact.

Law…wondered if bullheadedness was something you passed on to your child, too, because the kid seemed to have spades of it. Law gave up. “Your mother gave you her strawhat,” Law said instead.

The kid beamed and pressed the brim of the famed strawhat down on her head. “Uhn,” she said. Law almost rolled his eyes. She clearly was a master of words.

“Maybe I should call you ‘Strawhat-ya’ too from now on,” he said, semi-seriously. The kid’s smile widened in amusement, her eyes crinkling. Law wondered then, if she knew why her parents were ready to wage war. Did she know they were fighting for world she could thrive in, where she could sail the seas for adventure and bear that Strawhat without being hunted down? Did she know what they had already done and fought and lost for her?

The next day, after the fighting was done, when Blackbeard laid broken and bloodied, when Shiryu had fled to the seas, when Hachinosu was nothing but a memory, Law turned around, breathing heavily, to see the girl, her dress tattered and blood-stained, laughing in the embrace of her Crew, and Law realised then…

The kid – Ace, Strawhat, princess of the seas and Child of Death – she knew what her parents would do for her, which was why she insisted on following them into the fray. She was fighting for them, too.

And that particular brand of loyalty was one that Law had seen burn down flags and declare war on the world, that brought the World Government to their knees and punched a Dragon because they hurt a friend, that shaped the tides and defined an era. That loyalty and persistence synonymous to being a Strawhat.

Law grinned. This girl was going to change the world, he thought.

He hoped he would grow old enough to see it.


	3. there are no coincidences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Crew made a new friend on a spring island. There was more than met the eye.

“Land – ho!” Usopp cried from above.

Zoro snorted in his sleep, disturbed. He rolled over to a patch of grass not directly in the glare of the sun to try to get back to his nap even as excitement erupted around him following Usopp’s announcement. T’was just an island anyway, not like they’d never seen –

Footsteps thundered passed. A sandaled foot stomped uncaringly into his middle and Zoro shot up immediately in pain. In the process of it, he somehow invented the yelp-wheeze, a sound he previously had no idea he was capable of.

“ _Luffy_ ,” he managed to snarl. Pain-stakingly, and intent on retribution, he lifted himself up from the lawn to stalk up to where his idiot of a captain was.

Luffy paid him no attention. Her sparkling eyes were glued to where the island was coming into their sights. Before Zoro could reach her, Ace rushed past him to climb onto the railing.

“I see it!” she gasped. She almost toppled overboard in her excitement but Luffy, without looking, grabbed onto the back of her dress with practiced ease. The way their mouths were shaped into identical ‘o’s of wonder made them look more like twins than mother and daughter. Zoro snorted at that. His earlier irritation melted away.

Ace turned to Nami now. “It’s a spring island, isn’t it?” she asked eagerly.

Nami hummed. “It is,” she confirmed, studying her map of the South Blue. “’Baterilla’, it’s called.”

 _Baterilla, huh,_ Zoro thought. He rested an arm on the railing, and together with his family, he surveyed the island that would be their next destination. Despite himself, their excitement had infected him too. It made Zoro grin in anticipation.

The crew split up without a second thought the moment they landed, partly because they couldn’t contain the mass of giddiness that Luffy was. Her assigned babysitters, Jimbei and Robin, followed her to…wherever she was so eager to get to (who was he kidding, of course she went to get food), while the rest were roped by Nami to be packmules during her shopping spree. God bless their souls. 

Meanwhile, Zoro was content to trail behind Ace and Chopper as they frolicked, literally frolicked, in a field of red flowers. He looked on at them giggling and rolling about and it still blew his goddamn mind sometimes, that they were pirates, crew of the feared Pirate King.

Chopper was in his reindeer form. It must be the spring pollen in the air…or something. Zoro had never seen him so enthused about flowers before. “In some parts of the world, deer eat flowers as a viable part of their diet,” he was telling Ace.

Ace made a face. “Meat is better,” she declared.

“It’s good!” Chopper insisted. He pulled up a bunch of those red flowers by the roots and munched them in demonstration. “See?”

A blur of a shape ran towards Chopper. It smacked him on the head squarely with a weaved basket, making him spit out the petals that were in his mouth.

“Owww!” Chopper morphed back to his usual form to hold the bump between his antlers. “What was that for, asshole?” he asked his assailant indignantly.

Although Zoro didn’t sense any real threat, he was immediately on alert. Beside him, Ace had become real quiet, the way she always got whenever any of them was hurt. Her green eyes glinted.

The bristling woman who had hit Chopper paid them no mind. She pointed a furious finger to Chopper’s blue nose, and Chopper actually looked cowed. He went almost cross-eyed looking at that threatening appendage.

“Stay away from our hibiscus,” the woman hissed. The generous smatterings of freckles across the bridge of her nose wrinkled with her frown, and even her skirts seemed to flare with rage. That was when Zoro spied another face glaring from behind their folds; a timid boy about Ace’s age. He had the same weird strawberry-blonde hair as the woman. It made him look oddly cherubic.

“We…planted them,” the boy told them. He ducked behind the slight form of his mother when he noticed Zoro’s eye on him, but then he plucked up his courage to continue, “We had to water them and prune them and catch the bad bugs everyday. We were gon’ sell them to get Mama –”

“Hush, Rowan,” the woman scolded gently. She turned her smouldering glare back to the three of them. Chopper gulped. Ace looked contrite now that she learned the flowers actually belonged to someone. Zoro just wanted to sigh because he could tell something troublesome was incoming, just by the calculating look in the woman’s eyes.

Sure enough, the woman drew back and folded her arms. “I’ll let this slide if the three of you help me tend my stall for a week,” she said.

“That’s a bit too much, init?” Zoro protested. “Chopper ate, what, five of them?”

The woman glared. She pointed to where Chopper and Ace were rolling about a while ago, where two whole rows of flowers had been flattened.

Ahh, well. Woops.

Ace and Chopper looked guilty. Ace looked up at Zoro and he cocked an eyebrow at her. He wouldn’t tell her what to do. He’d just go along with whatever she chose; it wasn’t like they were in a hurry to leave the island anyway.

Ace shared a look with Chopper and it seemed a decision had been reached between them. “We’ll help,” Ace said. “We’re sorry.”

Chopper nodded, “You’ll see! We’re going to be the best flower-sellers ever!”

Zoro doubted that. He was just glad selling flowers for a week was the most of what they got dragged into.

(He was wrong, of course, but when had he ever been right about these things?)

The young woman had a name, it turned out. “Rosa,” she’d told them curtly on their way to the market, as Zoro pulled the wagon full of flowers along. Why was he the one doing all the work when he hadn’t even touched a single petal of those damn flowers again?

Ace was chattering with Rowan beside them. At some point, they had decided to play swords. Ace had her wooden sword out, and though she knew how to use it, Zoro could tell she was going easy on Rowan, who was holding the stick he’d picked up all wrong. She was just happy to play. It made Zoro realise how few children her age she actually knew. Her only other friend had been Makino’s kid all the way back in East Blue.

Rosa had noticed, too. “They’re having fun,” she observed quietly. Zoro grunted. The children had clambered onto Chopper now, who bucked playfully with them on his back; it made them shriek in delight, drawing the attention of the market-goers around them.

Speaking of…the people here didn’t like Rosa and her son a lot, do they? They were perfectly polite, but Zoro had been around misfits long enough to recognise the symptoms; a certain guardedness of the eyes, how the crowd parted subtly before them like the sea and the Red Line.

…shit. There was something else about this woman and her child, wasn’t there? …And they were gonna get caught in whatever was going on, weren’t they? Zoro had no misgivings about their luck, it was a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’. It spoke of how used he was to it that the only thing Zoro felt was resignation.

“Nice town,” he remarked, seemingly randomly. He wanted to smack himself in the face once the words got out. Subtlety was a skill he never learned.

Rosa gave him an odd look. “Yes,” she simply said, and offered no further comment.

Ahh whatever. At least he tried. They’d find out about it sooner or later anyways. Zoro turned his attention back to the children. Chopper had picked up some of Usopp’s flamboyance, and was regaling Ace’s new friend with tales of their adventures.

“You’re pirates?” Rowan gasped. From the front, Zoro could tell Rosa’s interest was piqued, though she kept a neutral appearance.

“Yes,” Ace said, quietly proud. “My Mama and Papa are the strongest pirates in the seas, and Crew is the bestest in the world.”

…Let it not be said that Roronoa Zoro preened at that, because preening was something he absolutely did not do.

Awestruck, Rowan said, no filters, the way only a child could, “We’re going to be pirates, too! My Papa was gon’ be one with us, but he died when –”

“Rowan!” Rosa warned, and Rowan’s mouth snapped shut. Zoro raised an eyebrow at Rosa, but she just let out a long breath through her nose.

“Let’s just get going,” she muttered. She didn’t look at anyone the rest of the way.

Selling flowers was not as easy as Zoro thought it would be. People would take one look at his face and before he could finish his spiel of “One bunch of hibiscus for 100 Beri”, they’d run off.

The third time that happened, Zoro sat down and scowled. His face wasn’t that bad.

When an hour had passed and they hadn’t sold anything, Rosa looked at him from the corner of her eyes. “Well, you’re not making things better,” she muttered.

Zoro looked away. He could feel his scowl deepening. He was good at other things, ok.

Rosa just sighed. She twirled one of her flowers – “Hibiscus,” Rowan had said importantly – and stared ruefully at the crowd avoiding their stall like the plague.

“Is business always this bad?” Zoro asked her. They were beautiful flowers. Even he could tell that much. It made no sense that they would sell so badly.

Rosa leaned against the wall and stared up into the sky. It was approaching noon, and the market would close soon. “We’ve had worse days,” she said softly. She turned to where Chopper was entertaining the two children down the street, and a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “At least Rowan is happy today.”

Zoro followed her gaze, and felt himself softening at the sight of Ace’s face, full of laughter. He understood what she meant. There were things that mattered more than anything else. “You’re a good mother,” he said, because it seemed like it was something Rosa needed to hear.

Rosa looked at him, hesitating. The hibiscus in her hands twirled and twirled. “I didn’t have a choice,” she said softly. “Rowan is still too young to understand – his father died when he was still a baby.” Here, she smiled, fractured and glassy, strength of will behind her eyes. “That boy is all I have left. I would do _anything_ for us to leave for the seas, to be free.”

Zoro couldn’t help but stare. The sentiment was too familiar. Her words were echoes of what he saw in Luffy’s face, three years ago in a starless realm, traces of an unshakable fervour which he would still see sometimes in the corners of her endless eyes.

“Oi! Zoro!”

Zoro’s head whipped up at the call, and it seemed like he’d conjured her up with his thoughts alone. He couldn’t help but grin when he saw her approaching.

“Hey,” he greeted. Luffy made a sound of surprise when he tugged her close to kiss the top of her head. He didn’t usually do this kind of things in public, but well…

Luffy just smiled at him despite her confusion, twining their fingers together. Her eyes crinkled with fondness and Zoro really, really wanted to kiss her.

“Zoro-san, are you selling flowers?” Jimbei asked, interrupting. Zoro looked up to see him and Robin approaching with amusement in their eyes. Zoro just grunted.

Rosa cut in smoothly from the side. “Your crew, I assume?” she asked.

Zoro blinked. “Uh, yeah. Luffy, Jimbei and Robin.” He gestured vaguely towards Rosa’s direction, “…Rosa.”

“Well met, Rosa-san,” Jimbei said, polite, though he still sounded confused. 

“Charmed,” Robin smiled.

Luffy, however, became guarded. She pressed closer to Zoro, eyes never leaving Rosa. Zoro looked down at her strangely.

“Hello,” Rosa said to them, her business smile already in place. “How about some flowers? Only 100 Beri a bunch!”

“Mama, Mama!” Ace said as she ran towards Luffy. Luffy grinned. She threw Ace up into the air when she reached her, making Ace laugh in delight, and Rowan, close behind, gave them a curious look.

“Mama, we’re helping Rowan and his Mama sell hibiscus because Chopper and I ruined some of their plants. Wanna buy some?” Ace asked.

Luffy ‘oohed’. “Of course, I want some!” she exclaimed. “Can you eat them?”

“Eh, meat is better.”

Jimbei chuckled. “But we must support Ace-kun in her enterprising endeavour! How much can 5000 Beri get me?” He presented all the money he had in his pocket to Rosa.

Rosa’s eyes lit up. “Everything in the cart,” she said, reaching out with eager hands.

“Jimbei-san,” Robin chided. “What would we do with fifty bunches of flowers?”

Jimbei’s blanked, like he hadn’t thought about it, but he waved away all his misgivings the moment Ace gave him her best puppy eyes. “I’m sure we can find some use for them.”

“Usopp can plant them in his garden,” Ace said, eyes big. Zoro had to turn away to hide his snicker when even Robin faltered.

And that was how the Strawhat crew acquired a whole wagon of flowers for no reason at all.

The week went slowly by.

Every morning, Zoro and Chopper would help load the cart and bring them to the market. Rowan and Ace would play nearby while the day went on, and Jimbei would unfailingly buy the whole wagonful just because Ace wanted him to. They were lucky he was a rich Warlord before he joined them.

Rosa had started to let her guard down around them, and by the end of the week, she felt comfortable enough to let them stay in her tiny house. After they’d finished their job at the market, Rowan and Ace had taken to going on small adventures in the hilly forest behind the house. Zoro wasn’t really worried about them getting up there on their own; Ace had made the forest in Dawn Island her playground without much incident before they left, after all.

Ace told him about it during dinner time. Sanji, intent on impressing Rosa, had prepared _cassoulet_ that day. As everybody ate, and as food flew and arguments broke out as it inevitably did, Zoro cut the meat for Ace.

“There’s a lady up in the hill,” Ace said, seemingly out of the blue.

It made Zoro still. Strange people in the forest were hardly unsuspicious. “Did she talk to you?” he asked as nonchalantly as possible.

Ace shook her head. “She was weird, like she was made of mists. And I can’t really see her properly. Rowan couldn’t see her at all, though.” She took a bite of the chicken Zoro speared for her with a fork.

…A mysterious, misty lady. Well, they had seen stranger things. Zoro would have chalked it up to their imaginations had he not known better, and Ace was hardly a liar.

“Just be careful, and don’t go with her,” Zoro warned. He made a mental note to keep a closer eye on her with his Haki from now on.

Ace chewed her chicken and nodded. After she swallowed, she said, thoughtfully, “Her eyes looked like mine.”

…Zoro had no idea what to make of that.

On the last day of their stay, a ship came to the island.

Zoro knew it was some moneybag, judging by how the rest of the town was acting, all excited whispers and bated breath. He wasn’t really interested, to be honest, beyond the fact that this kind of people like to pick a bone with them, for some reason. He knew, at least, that they couldn’t be Dragons, because the ones that Luffy hadn’t punched in the face in Mariejoies still hadn’t dared to show their faces yet.

Zoro was at the stall when the rich (?) lord person walked down the street with his entourage. He wondered idly what they were doing on this island. Rosa, beside him, stilled when she saw them approaching. She hastily put on her gardening hat and called Rowan over. When Zoro gave her a questioning look, Rosa shook her head imperceptibly and looked determinedly at the floor. Ace followed Rowan to behind the stall, and while Rowan tried to keep his head down like his mother, Ace, like Zoro, just stared at them as they passed.

The lord person stopped right in front of them. Zoro and Ace continued staring.

“Are those…hibiscus?” the lord person asked.

“Yea,” Zoro grunted. “100 Beri for a bunch. Wanna buy some?”

The lord person hummed. He cocked his head at Rosa, who refused to meet his eyes. “And you are the stall-owner?”

Rosa nodded. Even though he could sense the tension in the air, Rowan had started to grasp that the man was making his mother uncomfortable. He mustered enough courage to glare.

“Hmm,” the lord person said finally, flicking his eyes at the boy, and then he went on his way.

Zoro raised an eyebrow at Rosa. “What was that about?” She had a tight-knuckled grip on Rowan’s shirt. He didn’t think she even realised it.

Rosa released a breath, and loosened her hold on Rowan. She ruffled his hair reassuringly and that was enough for Rowan to run off again with Ace.

She still wouldn’t look at Zoro, but Zoro could be patient. He waited.

“…my husband, he was killed by a noble like that, for protecting me and Rowan,” she said softly in the end.

Zoro inclined his head in sympathy. Nobles had wreaked havoc on whatever islands they were on before Coby and his new Marines effectively stripped them of their power, but some still clung to their old inheritance. Traces of the damage they dealt to the populace would never wash away. Rosa’s husband, Rowan’s father, would never come back, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Rosa’s smile returned with a force. “Ah,” she said with faux-indignation. “And that guy didn’t even buy anything!”

Zoro nodded. At least she could still pretend to be unfazed.

The day was done, and most of the Crew were lazing about in Rosa’s house. There was a certain awkwardness in the air. It was to be their last day on the island, but Rosa was too proud to admit she would miss them when they leave. The rest of the crew didn’t know how to deal with that, so they just hung around making small talk, while Rosa pretended to clean her kitchen. 

Luffy had just come back from town with Nami and Sanji when she suddenly froze halfway into biting her apple. Zoro’s eye widened. He could feel it, too. Their eyes met and Zoro immediately grabbed his swords, heart in his throat. Once they saw Luffy and Zoro, their crew understood instantly what was going on.

They raced without a word to the forest where Ace and Rowan were playing that afternoon.

They got there just in time to see the lord person from the market grabbing on to Rowan. Ace had her wooden sword out, though she was outnumbered by the lord person’s lackeys. She was breathing hard. Three men laid unconscious at her feet and Zoro had a single moment to be proud of her before blinding rage took over.

It was over in less than a minute. The goons choked on Luffy’s Haki the moment she got near and Zoro cut the rest of them down before their crew even reached them. Hand trembling with rage, he sheathed his sword and went to where Ace was.

Luffy was already checking her over, face tight with anger and worry, and Zoro sagged with relief when he saw that Ace well and whole.

“Baby, did they hurt you?” he asked, smoothing her hair down. There was a bruise blooming on her left cheek, and dried blood had clotted near her nostrils, but she seemed otherwise unharmed. Zoro tried to hold her close but Ace shook her head adamantly.

“Rowan! They were going to get –”

“Rowan’s fine, Ace,” Franky said. He’d picked the boy up and Chopper was tending to him. The lord person laid bloodied at his feet. Zoro had to resist the urge to cut him up even more – it looked like Sanji had already broken all his ribs when he kicked in his chest.

“Rowan! Rowan! Are you alright?” Rosa’s panicked voice came in through the foliage. Rowan struggled out of Franky’s hold to get to his mother, who dropped down to her knees and held Rowan like she would never let go. The both of them were trembling.

Zoro let out a sigh. Luffy had Ace in her arms, and their daughter had hid her face in Luffy’s neck, still scared. Zoro put a hand on her back to try to sooth her. He tried to calm the drumming in his chest.

“C’mon,” he said softly. “Let’s get back.”

“Thank you,” Rosa said quietly to Zoro, just before they left. The rest of the Crew were busy preparing _Sunny_ for departure. At the sides, Rowan and Ace were stoically saying their goodbyes.

Zoro put down his crate and grunted. “Twas’ nothing,” he said. “Just…take care of yourself.” The Strawhats couldn’t stay here forever, and if what they saw in the forest that day, Rowan was the target, while Ace was just the collateral, as strange as it seemed. Zoro was worried that more would come after them.

Rosa was silent for a while. Her eyes looked to the distant, to the sea and the sky and the horizon. “Before the nobles were exiled, more of them would come for my family and me. My husband died in one of those attempts,” she said, breath stuttering. “I thought – I thought we were safe. Even if the town hated us for…attracting trouble to their island, I thought –”

Zoro said nothing, waited her to go on. When she’d composed herself, she looked back to Zoro. Her eyes were steely with determination. “We’re leaving,” she said. “We’re buying a boat to go explore the world like we always planned.”

For a single moment, Zoro thought he saw Luffy in her place. So blinding was Rosa’s smile, like the sun, as she said, “We’re going to be free!”

_I wish you…happiness._

Zoro started when he heard that voice, clear as a ringing bell in his head. He looked up to the forest, high up in the hills and in the distance, he thought he saw…a woman made of mists and dreams. Eyes of green.

A mother’s smile.

Zoro gulped. He looked into Rosa’s determined eyes – her strawberry-blonde hair like fire – and he said carefully, “You never told us your full name.”

Rosa grinned, her eyes crinkling. Her smile blinding, blinding –

“It’s Portgas D. Rosa,” she said.

The sea was endless and immortal, yet, somehow, you could find kin anywhere in the world.

Zoro and his crew waved goodbye to Rosa and Rowan, shouted godspeed to them in the winds, and as they became smaller and smaller, as Zoro ruffled a sniffling Ace’s hair, he wondered, when – and it _is_ a matter of ‘when’ – they would see this cousin of Ace’s on the seas.

He knew in his heart they would meet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always thought the Portgas family would be the first that Dream blessed, which was why they were kind of her favourite.
> 
> Did anyone guess who Rosa was by the way? I hoped I wasn't too obvious haha


	4. of white noise and diamond dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They got lost. Zoro wasn’t that concerned, but then Ace got sick.

“We’re lost,” Ace commented hours into their expedition. It wasn’t a question.

Zoro cursed as he struggled to pull his leg up from the snow, buying time. He tried one final time to sense where the rest of the crew was, but as it had been for a while now, he couldn’t feel anything. Shadows flickered in the shade of the surrounding snow dunes and Zoro was starting to hear, in the distance, the nocturnal inhabitants of the desert stirring to prowl.

“We’re not lost,” Zoro muttered. “Not our fault those idiots don’t know what a meeting point is.” He’d even pointed out the icicle and snow pile to them and everything.

Ace giggled. She was old enough to be able to tell now, when he was bullshitting, but she never called him out. Instead, she just smiled at him as she always did. Her cheeks and the tip of her nose were flushed pink and chapped behind her fluffy scarf.

Zoro turned his attention to the vast expanse of whiteness in front of them. Everything looked…the same and shit, theeere went the sun. With it gone, their surroundings dipped entirely into darkness. Even the wind had started to pick up; it made flurries of snow dance around them, like wraiths. Zoro looked at Ace.

She just nodded. “Shit.”

They decided to venture a bit further, which, in hindsight, might have been a stupid thing to do. Sanji had screamed at him enough times to just ‘fucking sit still, dumbass’ whenever Zoro got separated from the crew, but it had always turned out alright. He had always found them in the end, anyways. This didn’t seem to be the case here, and Zoro, despite himself, was starting to worry.

They couldn’t be _that_ far away, Zoro thought. This winter island didn’t look that big when they landed. He tried again with Observation Haki to find them, but some…thing seemed to be blocking the connection. And it wasn’t just the crew. Even though Zoro could hear animals hooting in the distance, he couldn’t sense them. It was eerie.

The wind was howling incessantly, whipping their clothes around them, bringing with it fresh sleet and snow and making everything slippery and wet and just plain annoying. Zoro had a fleeting thought about being caught in a blizzard at night when he heard a slight cough behind him.

“You alright back there?” he called. The wind made it necessary to near-yell to make himself heard. When Ace didn’t answer, Zoro turned to look at her.

Ace was trudging on stubbornly to catch up to him, and Zoro’s heart just sank when he saw her face. “You alright?” he asked again.

“…yea,” Ace whispered. It looked like it was taking all she had just to stand still. She was shivering in the windchill, despite the many layers of waterproof clothes she had on. Her eyes had a glossy look to them.

“You’re sick,” he said, almost dumbfounded, when he touched her. He could feel the heat from her even with his gloves on. She hadn’t been sick since she was a baby, and she’d always had Chopper around. How did the fever even settle in so fast? She was fine this morning.

Zoro tried very hard not to panic. “We’re stopping for the night,” he decided.

Ace’s head whipped up at that. “What? But we need to get back to Crew!” she protested.

“We’re not travelling when you’re in that state,” Zoro said, eye narrowing.

Ace scowled and looked away. Zoro had a bewildered second to wonder where this was coming from; he was no stranger to her stubborn head, but she’d always been more…diplomatic about her expressions of disagreement.

She’s sick, Zoro told himself, and another zing of panic shot through him at that thought. He looked around the cold darkness. “There,” he said, pointing to an outcropping of rocks. “We’ll spend the night there.”

Ace went with him, but she didn’t say another word.

By the time Zoro had managed to dig out a shelter big enough for the both of them, the blizzard had well and truly set in. They were lying still in the snow, listening to the storm outside, when Zoro’s stomach growled. Him and Ace stared at each other for a minute, and to his relief, she started to giggle.

“When we get outta here, I’m going to eat a whole steak,” he said, to bring some levity to the situation.

Ace nodded. “I – I want a steak, too,” she said. Her words were punctuated by coughs. Zoro thought it might actually be getting worse.

“I’m sorry,” he said after a while. “I couldn’t build a fire for you.” He’d tried, but the kindling had been too wet, and the wind kept blowing the embers out. He should have brought a lighter, or something. At least he should have brought some food. He shouldn’t have ventured out with his daughter without any preparation like an idiot. He shouldn’t have gotten them lost. He shouldn’t have done a lot of things.

Ace slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said, not meeting his eyes. “I got sick, and we couldn’t keep going.”

So that was why she was being mulish. Zoro brushed her hair out of her too-warm face. “You’re a kid,” he told her. “Why are you apologising for getting sick?”

“I’m not a kid ‘nymore,” Ace grumbled.

Zoro almost laughed, despite the situation. “You’re twelve,” he said. “Still a kid. And being sick isn’t something you hafta be sorry for anyways.”

“…’m not a kid.” Another cough. Ace sounded drowsy.

Zoro shook her gently. “Hey,” he said. “Don’t go to sleep, ‘kay?”

“…’kay.”

“I’m serious, Ace,” Zoro said, stern this time. “Open your eyes.”

Ace nodded. A moment of silence stretched. Zoro counted the breaths Ace was taking, the misty puffs in the small space. “Can you tell me a story? To keep me awake?” Ace asked in a small voice.

Zoro’s lips quirked into a small smile. “I thought you’re big now. You still want stories?” he teased.

Ace didn’t answer, but Zoro could almost see her blink at him, which was how she rolled her eyes. It made him grin a little. “Fine, fine. How about I tell ya about how Mama and I met?....”

The sun did come up in the end. Ace was exhausted by the end of it, but at least the blizzard had passed. Zoro dug out of their hole first to check out their surroundings, when he came face to face with a giant polar bear- seal.

Shit.

“Get behind me, Ace,” he said calmly. He slowly unsheathed Wado Ichimonji.

The creature’s eyes were glowing amber, and far too intelligent. Zoro hadn’t even sensed it coming, but the hair behind his neck stood up to their ends when he realised there seemed to be a polar-bear seal size shaped hole in the range of his Obervation Haki. This monster, somehow, must be the one blocking their senses on this island.

Ace had just managed to peek her eyes from their shelter. She took one look at the monster and immediately took up a defensive positing behind him. Zoro kept an arm spread in front of her. He snarled at the animal, challenging.

The polar-bear seal just growled in response. It charged.

Fine, then, if this was how it wanted to go down. It should know better than to attack a predator with a sick young he had to protect. Zoro readied his sword –

A drop in the air pressure around them, like gravity, and the polar bear – seal was knocked down before it could even reach Zoro, foaming at the mouth.

Zoro whirled around, because he would know that Haki anywhere –

“Zoro! Ace!” Luffy’s voice called. She was running towards them with their crew on her heels.

Zoro’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Oi!” he called back, waving. He barely had a chance to steady himself before Luffy barrelled right into his arms.

“We thought you were a goner,” Luffy told him solemnly. Without waiting for his answer, she turned to Ace and gasped. “Ace! You’re sick!”

Ace smiled weakly at her. “Hi, Mama.”

“It’s ok! Chopper’s here! And Sanji, too! He’ll make you soup! It’ll make you feel better!” Luffy assured her as she picked Ace up in her arms. Ace didn’t even protest. She just fell right asleep on Luffy’s shoulder. She must have been so tired.

Zoro sighed. He had a moment of peace to enjoy the sweet respite of relief before –

“You idiot! What did we tell you about making off on your own?” Nami screeched.

“We thought you would perish in the blizzard,” Robin said serenely.

“And bringing Ace with you too! What were you thinking –”

Ahhhh, Zoro was glad to see them too.

And that was his last thought, before sleep took him.

“What the – he’s already asleep!”


	5. hey, young blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red-haired Shanks, Emperor of the Sea, conqueror of the Grand Line and captain to one of the most fearsome crews known to history. Also part-time babysitter and bar-tender.  
> It was strangely fitting.

When he was young, Shanks had imagined the end of his life to be somewhat like Roger’s – flash-bang, breath-takingly supernova; a blaze of glory ushering in a romance dawn.

The reality was this:

Muggy summer heat in a no-where island. Shy callouses that matched his as they walked down the street. Waking up to the smell of mead and pancakes (sometimes bacon). Fixing a smile on his face for the customer the moment the bell jingled – an almost instinctual response by now, the same way his lips curled when small, demanding hands tugged at his shirt or when soft hands dried themselves on a worn apron and caressed his hair, his face. Affection blooming in his chest. Peace.

He didn’t imagine being a part-time babysitter and bar-tender to be the highlight of his life.

It was an uneventful day, one in a long stretch of lazy, uneventful afternoons. Makino was going out to shop for supplies and Shanks had offered to look after the bar and the kids while she was gone.

Makino had frowned playfully at him before she went her way. “Please don’t let the children make a mess,” she’d said to Ben, who was lounging by the door, pointedly enough that Shanks could hear her. “The last time you weren’t here, they almost got into the top-shelf alcohol.”

“Did they, now?” Ben grinned. “What a waste that might have been.”

Makino shook her head, giving an affected sigh, “And to think how I’ve tried to bring them up to be well-behaved.”

“We do try, we parents,” Ben nodded sagely.

“Hey,” Shanks protested from behind the bar, where he’d been trying to impress Makino with how reflective he could make the cutleries. “Are you two making fun of me?”

Makino and Ben turned to him with identical amused smiles, but rather than dignifying his whining with a response, Makino said to Ben, “Please look after my bar, Ben.”

“You can count on me, Makino.”

The moment she was gone, Shanks threw a dishrag at Ben’s face. “Traitor,” he said sourly.

Ben snorted and threw the rag right back at him. “You were the one who got caught trying to steal her booze.”

“ _Our_ booze! I’m her husband! We’re supposed to share things!”

“Stealing is wrong, Dad,” Roger informed him. He didn’t look up from the drawing he was working on with Ace on the floor. His legs kicked in the air absently.

Shanks pulled a face at him. “You’re no fun,” he said. “Ace! You agree with me, right?”

“Sanji always thwack Mama on the head when she steals food.”

“Maybe we should thwack Shanks on the head,” Ben mused.

Shanks narrowed his eyes at his first mate. “Mutiny,” he accused, to which Ben just shrugged with a ‘whacha gon’ do about it’ smile. Roger hadn’t even look their way once in the exchange, and Shanks couldn’t help feeling a bit sulky about it. He knew for a fact that Ace would have defended her Papa if it was Roronoa Zoro being bullied.

Shanks was about to retort when the door opened with a merry chime of the bell. He turned to it automatically, a greeting halfway out from his mouth but he was beat to it by his own son.

“Welcome to Party Bar!” Roger was up in an instant, smile in place, crayons and Ace forgotten on the floor. Ace stole looks at the customer and shifted a little closer to Ben before settling back to her own drawing while Roger brought the man to an empty booth.

Roger pulled out a chair for him. “What would you like today, sir?” he said in a well-rehearsed voice.

The man, a regular, raised an eyebrow at Shanks and Shanks rolled his eyes good-naturedly. He grinned as he watched his son essentially rob him of his job. Maybe he should start thinking of other ways to earn his keep around here.

The years spent on Dawn Island had made him pampered, it seemed, because Shanks couldn’t remember when he started being bothered by sweat and mosquitoes. He used to explore volcano islands on the Grand Line for gods’ sake, and here the heat from a short climb into the forest was starting to get to him.

The sun was setting when he got to the treehouse. Childish voices floating down from the top as he made his way up.

“My bar is going to be the best bar in the world!” Roger was saying excitedly. “I’ll have the best cooks, and make the best drinks! And Mom can just sit there and rest and talk to the customers and we’ll have music all the time and it’ll be much cooler than being a pirate or whatever.”

Ace’s frown of disagreement was almost audible. “Sailing is fun. Adventure,” she insisted. Her words were succinct, but Shanks could hear her passionate disagreement. The two, despite being think as thieves, got into debates often about which is the worthier aspiration, running a bar or being a pirate. So far, no one was winning.

Shanks pulled himself onto the creakity platform overlooking the ocean, where the children were sitting. The sun was dipping into the horizon and its rays dyed the waves and clouds purple and gold. Sometimes, being up here reminded Shanks of the things that called him to the world a lifetime ago, when he ran after his captain’s shadow chasing dreams and legends. He took a deep breath in, filling his lungs with the scent of the sea and sudden nostalgia.

“Dad, what are you doing up here?” Roger’s voice pulled him from his reverie and Shanks eyes snapped opened.

He grinned at his son. “Your mother wants you home for dinner,” he said. “It’s getting late.”

Sounds of whinging erupted, as he expected, and Shanks had to say loudly over them, “She’s making pasta! And if you wait any later, the big tiger will come out.”

Roger looked apprehensive at that, but Ace didn’t look disturbed at all. She fingered the wooden practice sword in her lap. “I can take him,” she said evenly.

Sometimes, Shanks forgot Ace was a child who had lived a very different life than his son’s protected existence before she came to this island. He’d forgotten that there were much scarier monsters this six-year-old had survived.

Mindfully keeping his smile on his face, Shanks switched tactics. “There are meatballs to go with the pasta~,” he sang.

Ace faltered. One final push. “And I hear Sanji is making steak~”

A few seconds passed before Ace finally nodded. Shanks’ grin widened. He still got it.

Shanks went home one evening to find Roronoa Zoro in his kitchen, cutting carrots into the most hideous shapes Shanks had ever seen.

Shanks blinked at him. “What are you doing here?”

Zoro didn’t answer, except to scowl and concentrate harder on his task. Shanks squinted at the mutilated vegetable on his chopping board. Really, how could anyone be so bad at something so simple.

Before he could pester Zoro more, Makino walked in with Roger and Ace, carrying various utensils and ingredients. Shanks brightened when he saw them. It wasn’t often that Ace came to his house. “What are _you_ doing here?” he said in delight.

Ace shrugged helplessly, and Makino giggled. “They’re hiding,” she told Shanks.

At that, Shanks raised an eyebrow at both his guests. Must be really something if they were hiding here instead of in the forest somewhere, or on _Sunny_.

His curiosity was answered when they heard, in the distance, a deafening voice.

“ACEE! WHERE IS MY LITTLE GIRL?”

Zoro and Ace froze.

Ace immediately dived under the dining table and Zoro looked torn, like he was contemplating doing the same. He actually twitched when a meaty fist knocked on the front door.

And now, Shanks wasn’t a traitor. Really. But this was the one person he didn’t want to stand in between his prey. Ace’s eyes widened in pleading as he set his hand onto the door knob.

 _Sorry, kiddo,_ Shanks mouthed at her, and let in the devil himself.

Monkey D. Garp didn’t even glance at Shanks when he barged in. His hair was greyer than Shanks remembered, but he still had on the loudest flowery shirt imaginable, to match his voice and presence. Shanks could see his neighbours peeking out their doors at them. He would almost be embarrassed, you know, if he was a normal person.

Garp narrowed his eyes when he spotted Zoro at the kitchen counter. Zoro had stilled to a comical degree, and the two eyed each other for a long minute before Garp growled out, “Roronoa.”

Zoro nodded stiffly. No one said a word. Makino was stifling her giggle behind a hand, eyes crinkling. Of course she would be enjoying this, Shanks thought. It made him grin in reflex, at the sight of her amusement.

Garp turned his attention to Ace under the table, and for a second there it almost looked like he would force his hulking form down there to join her.

“Ace!” he boomed, despite being two inches away from Ace’s face.

Ace had nowhere to retreat. She stared at Garp’s face, until she finally said, “Grand-gramps.”

Garp looked like he almost melted, maybe because of the fact that Ace had finally stopped calling him ‘Old guy’ now. “I haven’t seen you for so long!” he exclaimed. He produced a ruffled stuffed bear from somewhere about his person. “Here’s a dolly for you, Ace!”

Ace took the toy hesitantly. “Thank…you?” she said.

At that touching scene, Shanks saw from the corner of his eyes Zoro creeping closer to the back door. Ace seemed to have sensed it too, because she whipped her head around to level her father with a stare.

The two of them seemed to have a conversation consisting entirely of tense looks, until Zoro sighed, defeated. “Garp,” he began.

Simple enough, but that did the trick. Garp’s attention immediately shifted to Zoro, and poor Zoro looked like he very much wanted to shrink into the ground. But as Garp loomed towards him, and as Shanks see Zoro folding his arms and staring right back, immovable as a mountain, taking this bullet for his daughter, Shanks couldn’t help but marvel, grinning, that maybe this was what true love was.

They heard it when they were in town. It was just the two of them that day. Shanks had offered to bring Ace to the bookstore as a reward for helping out at the bar while Roger had stayed behind with Makino because he was more interested in the lemon pie recipe she was showing him.

It happened when they walked past the fruit stall. A comment made under a woman’s breath as they walked by. She’d thought they wouldn’t hear but Shanks had sharp ears, and so did Ace. She stilled when she realised what they were saying.

“Demon spawn,” a cruel, quiet sneer, whispered to a pair of cruel, willing ears. “They shouldn’t have that child in the first place.”

“And that _War._ All those lives lost because of her – ”

“Wouldn’t it be better if she had never been born?”

Shanks didn’t mean to stop. He didn’t mean to grip Ace’s hand so tight his fist was shaking. Simmering rage clouded his brain and he didn’t think when he turned back to the fruit stall. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was him they were talking about. It wouldn’t have mattered at all if they hurled vulgarities at his face or spat on him. But it was Ace _. Ace._

Ace pulled him back.

Shanks looked down at her in shock, but Ace didn’t meet his eyes. She just shook her head imperceptibly and kept on walking, leading him away.

Once Shanks could trust himself to speak, he asked softly, “Why did you hold me back?” She, unlike Roger, had always understood what it meant that Shanks was a pirate before settling down. She knew what he was capable of.

“They’re not worth it,” Ace said, staring ahead.

Had she…had she heard all this before? When he wasn’t around? A pang went through Shanks’ heart then and he tugged Ace to a stop.

“Ace,” Shanks said, careful, a pit in his stomach. “You – you don’t think what they said was true, do you?”

Ace didn’t answer him.

“Ace,” Shanks urged. He knelt down so he could look into her eyes. “Listen to me. _None_ of that was your fault.”

When Ace still didn’t say anything, Shanks almost shook her. How did he not realise this? Did Luffy know? Did Zoro?

“Think how sad your Mama and Papa would be without you, Ace,” he said. It almost sounded like he was begging.

Ace took a deep breath. She finally looked at Shanks. She smiled. And Shanks heart dropped.

She…wasn’t a child anymore, he thought wildly. Three years younger than his son and aged beyond her years. Stretched so thin to fill in the gap in her age.

“Ace, kiddo,” he said fiercely. “We love you so much. Do you hear me? Your parents love you so, so much they would fight the world for you.”

Ace didn’t look like she fully understood, but she nodded in the end. Shanks couldn’t help pulling her into a hug for a long, long while, until Ace hugged him back. In a small, dark, selfish corner of his heart, Shanks was glad Roger wasn’t born on the seas.

A year passed. The stars spun and the sun rose everyday as the world turned, and the Strawhats were once again ready to venture out into the world. Ah, to be young and infallible.

Shanks was there to see them off, along with Makino and his old crew. Roger was trying not to cry because he thought he was a man now, and Ace was actually pouting. It was actually kind of cute how attached him and Ace got despite the many, many differences in their personalities and childhood experiences.

Shanks had said goodbye to his Anchor, and Luffy had gone to hug Makino and Woop Slap one last time. He turned to Zoro, who was busy loading the last of their supplies onto their ship. He looked much more alive than what Shanks saw when they first brought him here, just a living corpse. If you knew to look, you could tell he was itching to leave for the sea, to sail again. Shanks guessed that was what it meant to be a pirate. The sea swallowed men whole and spat out hollowed carcasses, but pirates still rushed to its embrace unfailingly, unflinchingly, chasing impossible dreams and romance. It was something you couldn’t write out of their blood.

Zoro saw him approaching. He put down the last box he was carrying. “Well, see ya,” he said awkwardly and Shanks snorted. What a verbose character.

Shanks turned to where his son was still saying goodbye to Ace. Roger would never want to be a pirate. It didn’t mean life would be easier for him, but it did mean that Shanks didn’t have to worry what the sea would do to him, unlike Zoro, whose daughter had already been marked and scarred too young and too soon. The thought sobered Shanks up.

“Take care of them,” Shanks said, and Zoro’s eye glinted. Like he knew what Shanks was saying beneath his words. Anchor’s swordsman was more perceptive than he let on.

Zoro grunted, “Yea.” That was all he said, but Shanks knew Zoro was a man of his word. He knew he could count on him to keep Ace and Anchor safe, even if it meant forfeiting his life. And maybe it was selfish, because Shanks loved Luffy and Ace, but the thought of that alone reassured him, at least enough that he didn’t feel the urge to hover, like an overbearing parent.

So he nodded to Zoro, because nothing else needed to be said, and moments later, he waved with Makino and a sniffling Roger at the departing Strawhats as they sailed onwards, towards dreams and infinity and what lied forever beyond, towards the siren call of the sea, the same call of the tides that would sometimes still tug at Shanks’ heartstrings at night.

Shanks knew they would be fine in the end.


	6. that looks on tempests, and is never shake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fourth time the Strawhats had to leave someone behind.
> 
> Or in which Ace spent a month in Rusukaina with Raleigh.

“You were born here, you know,” Mama told her as they approached the island. She was smiling, and the wind played with her hair under Strawhat. The sun shone through the clouds blinding and hot, and under it, Crew went about to prepare to disembark. Every time Ace met their eyes, they smiled back, the tensest Ace had ever seen them.

Ace looked back at Mama. She was better than hiding it, but Ace could tell too. Her jaw was clenched and her knuckles on the railings white as bones. The lines throughout her were taut as a strung bowstring about to snap, but still she smiled at Ace like the rest of them, trying to put Ace at ease. Ace would have been mad, if she wasn’t also so, very sad.

She looked down over _Sunny’s_ sides at the lapping waves. They were getting nearer and nearer to Rusukaina. “I don’t want you to go,” she murmured. The moment the words left her mouth, Ace was horrified to find tears leaking out from the corners of her eyes. She rubbed at them, furious at herself. She was _not_ a child anymore.

Mama’s face softened. She pulled Ace close into a hug, the bone-crushing types that only Mama seemed to be able to give. Ace buried her face into Mama’s sides to hide her sniffling.

“I know, Ace,” Mama said. Here, her face brightened, and she gesticulated enthusiastically as she continued, “But when we come back, Mama’ll catch you the biggest Seaking ever! How does that sound? And we can have a – a party! A huuuuge one! With fireworks and sweets and whatever you want!”

When Ace didn’t answer, Mama brought her head down to look into her eyes. “You can have whatever you want when we come back, Ace,” she said solemnly.

Ace didn’t want fireworks, or parties, or steaks. She wanted Crew to stay with her, but to say otherwise would sound childish and petulant when she understood the reason they had to go in the first place. She knew this was what being a big girl meant, to be brave when all you wanted to do was curl up with Mama and never let go. She had long out-grown that phase.

So, Ace, princess of the seas, inheritor of her mother’s will, a big girl of ten, held in her tears and nodded.

Raleigh was there to meet them on the island. Usually, Ace would be happy to see him, but as it was, she just clutched at her Mama’s side as long as she could before they left.

Raleigh smiled when he saw them. He was the only one in Ace’s life who had never treated her like a child. “Hello, Ace,” he said genially, eyes crinkly with tan and laughlines. He reached out with a hand. “Are you looking forward to our time together?”

Ace knew she was being rude, but she didn’t much care at the moment. She shrunk a bit further behind Mama’s back and Papa sighed beside them. He had been the worst all this time. Even now, it looked like he had ants crawling all over him. His bowstring was wound up the tightest, like he was about to snap any moment.

He handed Raleigh a small bag. “Here’s her stuff,” Papa said gruffly. “Her clothes are in there. We packed some winter things for her too. She likes her red coat when it gets cold and there’s not a lot of food in there but Sanji packed some chocolate in case –”

“My, Zoro-kun,” Raleigh said, amused. “This must be the most I’ve heard you say.”

Papa scowled. He drove on stubbornly, looking into Raleigh’s eyes all the while. “ – _In case_ she can’t sleep. She likes to sleep next to a fire when we’re on an island, and if she doesn’t want to eat, mountain game helps. She’s not picky about how you cook it as long as it isn’t raw.”

“Ah, Luffy-kun’s daughter indeed, hmm?” Raleigh said in an attempt to break the tension. Mama didn’t say anything, she just nodded and smiled at nothing and continued playing with Ace’s hair. Ace knew Mama didn’t want to leave her, too, which was why she didn’t put up too big of a fight.

A long moment passed. When no one said anything, Raleigh sighed. “Well, then, I suppose this is goodbye, for now,” he said. “Good fortune upon you all. Mariejois won’t know what hit them.”

At the mention of their target, a crackle of something close to wrath rippled through Ace’s parents, so electric she could feel it static-y in the air. “They came for her, Raleigh,” Mama said, low and even, dangerous and fey-like in her rage, a crouching predator angered into hunting. “They sent assassins and bounty hunters and after all we’ve done, they were s _tupid enough to come for her.”_

Papa said nothing. But in these moments, sometimes Ace could understand why people would call her Papa – who would get lost in a straight line, who told her bedtime stories, who smiled when she stole sake for him – the Demon of the East.

“Those sorry fools,” Raleigh said calmly. “Sometimes, I wondered if Roger and I should have dealt with them years ago. I have half a mind to go with you children.”

“Our fight, not yours,” Papa grunted. His eye glinted with an eerie light.

At that, Raleigh chuckled. “I suppose,” he said. He turned to Ace and offered his hand again. “Shall we, my dear?”

This time, Ace, hand shaking, took it.

It was time for them to leave.

Ace stood at the shore, staring at the sand between her toes. Crew had gone back to _Sunny_ – Nami had given her the biggest hug ever while the rest had almost cried, sans Robin, who just smiled gently at her – and the only ones left were Papa and Mama.

“We’ll come back for you,” Papa swore to her. His green eye glowing and glowing and Ace was reminded of oaths and legends and swords pointed to the skies the time he called Mama a King and promises you carried to the graves between your teeth and Ace believed him. Papa would never break his word to her. Hadn’t even Death failed to stop him, after all?

That thought sent a pang though Ace’s heart. “Don’t die,” she said, demanded, and maybe this was childish, but she held out her little finger, the way she did before her fall, years and years ago.

Papa faltered for a single moment, before he twisted his little finger around hers, determination like steel in his grip. Ace held on for as long as she could, then lunged forward to hug him. Papa held her back, and Ace tried not to think about drowning and lifelines.

It was Mama’s turn next. Ace turned to her and Mama knelt down. They looked into each other’s eyes for a long while, and Mama was the chattiest person Ace knew, but Ace also knew Mama said the most in her silence. _I promise,_ she was saying. _I would give you the world. I’ll make the seas safe for you._

After an eternity in her mother’s endless eyes, Mama reached up to Strawhat. She took it off and pressed it on Ace’s head.

Ace looked up at her, startled. Before she could say a word, Mama pulled her into a hug, buried her face in Ace’s hair.

“You’re my greatest treasure, you know that, right?” Mama asked.

Ace tried so hard not to cry, but all of that effort went to waste at that moment. She hugged Mama back, and she didn’t say anything else because she didn’t trust she wouldn’t start sobbing.

And then _Sunny_ left, leaving Ace on the strange island on which she came into this world. Ace looked at the ship sailing further and further away as it disappeared into the horizon, the only home she had ever known.

On her head, Strawhat’s edges fluttered in the melancholic breeze.

And time passed and the world turned.

A month wasn’t a long time, but when you were ten, and your family was an ocean away, it could feel like forever.

Raleigh tried to get her to talk to him the first few days by showing her all the interesting parts of the islands, including the big animals there.

Ace looked on politely and smiled.

Ace had taken to walking about the forest to keep her mind off Crew and the enemy they were fighting. During those times, Raleigh would follow her, silent as a shadow. It should irritate her that he wouldn’t leave her alone but Ace…didn’t feel anything. Everything was numb, and cold, and that way her sadness lost its intense, painful edge.

She found a cave that way one day, and Raleigh stilled. It was weird – the island was uninhabited but it was plain to see that someone had stayed here before. Maybe a long time ago.

There was blood on the wall. Streaked as if by an unsteady hand holding on to it for support.

“Your birthplace,” Raleigh supplied, and said nothing more.

Ace…knew her being born had caused bad people to come after Crew, after Mama and Papa. Mama would tell her stories sometimes, laughing, about how long she stayed in her tummy.

Seeing the evidence of the danger they had been in, because of her…

(Sometimes Ace wondered if it was a good thing she was born at all.)

She swallowed. Without saying a word, Ace turned and walked out of the cave, pushing past Raleigh, past his appraising eyes.

“You know,” Raleigh told her one day over dinner, in front of the campfire. “Your mother once spent two years here.”

Ace looked up from the mountain boar she was barely nibbling. She didn’t say anything, but Raleigh must have known he had piqued her interest.

“It was a sacrifice she made, after she lost your Uncle Ace, to stay here for two years to get stronger so nothing could separate her from her crew ever again.”

Ace’s eyes widened at that. “She stayed here alone without Crew? Without Papa?”

Raleigh nodded, somewhat sadly. Ace chewed slowly on her dinner, pondering this.

A month seemed long enough, but two years…

Mama really was the strongest person on the seas.

“She knew it was the only way,” Raleigh continued. “And in those two years, she managed to learn what others would fail to in a lifetime. I taught her all I could, of course, but her pace far exceeded mine in my youth.” He laughed. “She really is extraordinary, your mother.”

Ace looked thoughtfully into the fire. If Mama could learn to be strong so she wouldn’t let Crew down ever again, if she could do so alone for _two years –_

“Could you teach me?” Ace asked Raleigh.

Raleigh looked pleased. “Of course,” he agreed easily, smiling. “What do you know of Haki, Ace?”

Only the very basics. “There is Armament Haki, for hardening,” she recited. “Observation Haki, for sensing. I know they are hard to learn.”

“They are,” Raleigh said. “And besides the two, there is a third type, so rare those who possessed it are said to be marked by Fate.”

“Conqueror’s Haki.”

Raleigh nodded. “Of course, I wouldn’t be too disheartened if we found you didn’t possess it. After all, only a few in a generation had –”

“I have it,” Ace said quietly, and Raleigh paused.

“And how do you know that?” he asked.

Ace swallowed. “I – I used it once, before, on those people who tried to – to take me away.”

“…and what happened?”

“The Marines who tried to cuff me fainted, and A – Akainu got really angry.”

“…can you tell me what you were feeling at that time, Ace?” Raleigh’s grey age were sharp and clever, and far too discerning. Ace couldn’t bring herself to look into them as she recounted her worst memories.

“I was scared…and angry.”

“And?”

“And I – I thought they might go after Papa and Mama.”

Raleigh drew back, settling deeper into his seat. “You wanted to protect them,” he concluded.

Ace didn’t know what to say. She nodded.

But that seemed to perk Raleigh up. “Well, then,” he remarked with great satisfaction. “That makes it quite a bit easier.”

Training wasn’t easy. Raleigh had promised he would be a demanding mentor, but Ace was used to working hard. Nami didn’t take it easy on her during their lessons, and Papa loved her, but he was even harder to please when he taught her about swords. And at least when she was doing something, Ace didn’t feel useless.

“That’s right,” Raleigh called. “Determination, Ace! That’s the key to your Armament Haki!”

Ace lifted up her practice sword to block a swipe from the Monkey King. Before the hit connected, she thought she saw a greyish sheen on it. It distracted her enough that she was flung into the trees by a giant paw.

“Pay attention, Ace,” Raleigh admonished. Ace got to her feet and wiped away the blood trickling down from her nose. She glared at the monkey, which was hooting in celebration.

Snarling, she charged.

Sometimes, Raleigh would chase after her instead of the animals, and that was all the more terrifying.

He always seemed to know where she was, and his punches were more punishing than anything the animals could dish out. The only way to outrun him was to sense where he was.

Ace reached the top of a small cliff, chest heaving, sweat rolling down her brow. From here, she could see everything nearby but no Raleigh –

She dodged a kick from her side just in time, rolling between Raleigh’s legs to stand up behind him.

“Very nice,” Raleigh said, smiling. And that was before a giant snake struck out of nowhere before Ace could sense it, to send her hurtling down the hills.

“Again!”

Ace struck, Raleigh barely moved. Her practice sword hit nothing but air. Her bruised ribs ached.

“Again!”

“Again!”

And days turned to weeks, and weeks to a month.

Crew didn’t turn up.

Beside the campfire, Raleigh bandaged Ace’s new injury. As he rubbed some salve onto her collection of bruises, Ace couldn’t help but hiss.

Raleigh clucked sympathetically. When he was done, he drew back to look at Ace, wearing more bandages than clothes. “Maybe I’d been too hard on you,” he said after a while.

Ace shook her head. “I can take it.”

Raleigh chuckled, and reached out to ruffle her hair. He handed her the best part of the bear they were roasting, that he had caught that afternoon. “You’re growing up so fast, Ace,” he praised as he bit into his own share.

Ace stilled at his words, how it echoed what Papa often said. _Don’t grow up too fast, Baby._

She put her dinner down. Suddenly, she wasn’t very hungry anymore.

Raleigh noticed. “I’m sure they’re fine,” he told her.

“I know,” Ace murmured. “They promised they’d be back. They _promised_.” And her parents would never, ever break an oath they made to her. Never. Ace pressed Strawhat down onto her head, to remind herself.

They said they’d be back. So they would. It was just…taking a bit longer than they said, is all.

Raleigh nodded. “And you are getting stronger in the meantime, aren’t you? And the next time they fight, they wouldn’t need to leave you behind anymore.”

He…was right. Ace had never thought about it that way. All this while, she’d been training so her family wouldn’t have to put themselves into danger for her ever again. But if she worked hard enough, if she got strong enough, they would never have to leave her behind to keep her safe anymore. She would be able to keep herself safe. She’d be able to protect them instead.

Ace looked up at the realisation, eyes shining with new resolve, and Raleigh nodded in approval. He piled more meat on her plate. “Eat your dinner,” he said.

The next day, Ace managed to defeat one of the monkeys. It was the smallest one of the troupe, but she was ecstatic nonetheless.

She looked back at Raleigh, eyes wild, panting, and Raleigh’s delighted laughter rang through the humid afternoon air.

One month turned into two. Ace, despite herself, was getting scared. There was still no news from Crew. So, she trained and fought and ate more and slept less because she would dream of them when she slept and wake up feeling unrested and focused all she had into beating the animals Raleigh sicced on her.

And then, one day feeling more distraught than usual, wanting to get back to Crew, wanting them to be safe, wanting to _protect them_ , Ace brought down a rhino with her Haki alone.

It dropped mid-charge, foaming at the mouth. It was only the second time in her life Ace had used it, the colour of Conquerors.

Raleigh nodded at her, looking as if his mind was racing a thousand miles a minute. Ace didn’t say anything. She dusted herself off and walked away to the rest of the herd, which were indignant and mildly cowed. She had more training to do.

“Again!”

And one day, without any warning at all, a cheerful orange dot appeared on the horizon. Ace scrambled onto the tallest cliff by the shore and stared at it until she could make out shapes and faces.

“Oii!! ACEE!!”

Ace, heart swooping, blubbering with laughter and joy she couldn’t control, waved and waved and waved.

“Hi Mama! Hi Papa!”


End file.
